Revised Abjuration Spells

Yesterday… Monday? I forget, actually. I worked on abjuration spells. Now, I’ve wanted to do something with abjuration for a while because I thought it could use something.

My understanding of abjuration magic has changed a lot over the years. I mean, a lot of what appears in D&D is derivative of other D&D, so without much guidance I had to work it out on my own.

First, I remember thinking it was kind of boring because it was just protection and nullification magic. I had to reconcile Dispel Magic and Disjunction with the rest of the Shield and Protection spells.

Some of it still didn’t make sense to me. Because some versions of Restoration also belonged to the abjuration school. So I had to reconcile healing and protection (which are thematically very different things).

The first time I saw Turn Undead as a spell was when I played The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion. I didn’t understand why it was a conjuration spell, and I still don’t, but it planted a seed.

When I watched the anime Bleach, I started putting together a few of the stranger elements of abjuration, in the powers of the character Orihime. Her powers seemed to function on the principle of “rejection,” at least that’s what the translation called it.

5e D&D added a Counterspell spell, which is where I finally saw grounds for an entire school of metamagic (which I know already existed as spells, but that’s when *I* finally saw it as viable). But that took away a lot of spells from abjuration.

So then I took Turn Undead and made it my first abjuration spell. I added Banishment. And Antimagic Field (which is 8th-level in 5e, and I agree). The rest fell into place. Except Reverse Gravity, which was a late addition, and I’m still not entirely sure about it.

Effect: You manifest a minor wonder within range. You create one of the following magical effects:

Your voice booms up to three times as loud as normal.
You cause flames to flicker, brighten, dim, or change color.
You cause harmless tremors in the ground.
You create an instantaneous sound that originates from the space of your choice within range. Examples include a rooster’s crow, a roar of flame, or a babbling brook.
You cause an unlocked door or window to fly open or slam shut.
You alter the appearance of your eyes.

If you cast this spell multiple times, you can have up to three of its effects active at once, and you can dismiss an effect with an action.

Effect: You ward a creature within range from personal attack. For the duration, any creature that targets the warded creature with an attack or harmful spell must make a Charisma saving throw. If it fails, the attacking creature must choose a new target or lose the attack or spell. This spell doesn’t protect the warded creature from area effects, like bursts or blasts.

If the warded creature attacks or casts a harmful spell (targets or damages an enemy), this spell immediately ends.

Effect: You invoke your deity’s name to censure undead you can see within range. Each undead creature makes a Charisma saving throw. If it fails, then it is turned for the duration.

While turned by you, the creature must use its movement on each of its turns to get away from you, and it can’t willingly approach within 30 feet of you. It can’t use reactions. It can only use the Dash or Escape actions on its turn to get away from you, unless there is nowhere for it to go, in which case it can use the Dodge action.

Higher Levels: When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 3rd level or higher, you can choose to destroy undead (reduce to 0 hit points) instead of turning them.

Effect: You ward an area within a 5-foot radius burst against a particular type of creature. Choose one or more of the following types of creatures: aberrations, celestials, elementals, faeries, fiends, or the undead. The circle affects a creature of the chosen type in the following ways:

* The creature can’t willingly enter the area by nonmagical means. The creature must succeed on a Charisma saving throw if it attempts to pass through the circle by using teleportation or interplanar travel.
* The creature has disadvantage on attack rolls against targets within the area.
* Creatures within the area can’t be charmed, frightened, or possessed by creatures of the chosen type.

Alternatively, when you cast this spell, you can choose for its magic to instead operate in the reverse direction, preventing creatures of the specified type from leaving the circle and protecting creatures outside the area.

Higher Levels: When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 4th level or higher, the duration increases by 1 hour for each spell slot above 3rd (maximum of 7 hours).

Effect: You attempt to send on creature you can see within range to another plane of existence. The target makes a Charisma saving throw. If it fails, the creature is sent away depending on its plane of origin.

If the target is native to the plane it has been banished from, it is removed from play to a harmless demiplane for the duration of your concentration, up to 1 minute. While banished, the target is incapacitated. The target remains there until the spell ends, at which point it reappears in the space it left or in the nearest unoccupied space, if that space is occupied.

If the target is native to a different plane, it is instead banished to its plane of origin and the spell ends.

Higher Levels: When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 5th level or higher, you can target one additional creature for each spell slot above 4th (maximum 6 creatures).

Effect: You attempt to remove the burden of evil acts or past misdeeds from a creature you touch. If the atoning creature is truly repentant and committed the acts unwillingly (e.g. under magical compulsion), the spell operates normally and the burden of guilt is removed.

If the creature is instead seeking redemption for evil actions committed unknowingly (by mistake, or while deceived, such as by illusion magic), or for actions committed in self-defense, the target must first undergo a quest.

The spell fails if the atoning creature committed evil acts of a knowing or willful nature.

Alternatively, you can use this spell to offer an opportunity for redemption to a willing creature of Evil alignment. The target may then choose whether to change its alignment to become Good. No amount of intimidation or magical compulsion can affect the creature’s decision. Even if the target chooses to change its alignment, the creature will bear the burden of guilt for evil acts for the rest of its existence.

Effect: You ward an area in a 100-foot radius burst against the use of portals, teleportation, and extraplanar travel (including astral and ethereal travel). Creatures are unable to enter or leave the area by magical means for the duration.

In addition, you can choose one or more creature types to take damage within the area. Choose from among the following: aberrations, celestials, elementals, faeries, fiends, and undead. When a creature of the chosen type enters the spell’s area for the first time or starts its turn within the area, it takes 5d10 force damage.

When you cast this spell, you can designate a password. A creature that speaks that password as it enters the area takes no damage from the spell. The spell’s area can’t overlap with the area of another forbiddance spell. If you cast forbiddance in the same location every day for 30 days, the spell’s duration becomes permanent until dispelled.

Effect: You reverse the direction of gravity in a 50-foot radius burst within range. Creatures and objects within the area fall upward to a maximum distance of 100 feet. If a creature collides with a solid object (such as a ceiling), it takes falling damage. If a creature reaches the maximum height without striking anything, it remains there for the duration of the spell effect. At the end of the duration, affected objects and creatures fall down normally.

Effect: You surround yourself with an invisible field of antimagic in a 10-foot radius burst. Within the field, spells fail, summoned creatures disappear, magic items are suppressed, and portals blink out of existence. The field moves with you and remains centered on you.

Spells and magical effects, with the exception of those created by an artifact or a god, are suppressed within the field. A spell slot used to cast a suppressed spell is consumed. While a magical effect is suppressed, it doesn’t function, but any time it spends suppressed counts against its total duration.

Targeted Effects. Spells and magical effects, such as magic missile and charm person, which target a creature or object within the field, have no effect on the target.
Areas of Magic. The area of another spell or magical effect can’t extend into the field. If the field overlaps an area of magic, the part of the area that is covered by the field is suppressed.
Spells. Any active spell or magical effect on a creature or object in the field is suppressed while the creature or object remains within the field.
Magic Items. The properties and powers of magic items are suppressed within the field. A magic weapon’s properties and powers are suppressed if it is used against a target in the field, or wielded by an attacker within the field.
Magical Travel. Teleportation and planar travel fail to work within the field, whether the field is the destination or the origin point. A portal to another location, world, or plane, as well as an opening to an extradimensional space, temporarily closes while within the field.
Creatures and Objects. A creature or object summoned or created by magic temporarily blinks out of existence within the field. The creature or object instantly reappears once the space it occupied is no longer within the field.
Dispel Magic. Spells and magical effects have no effect on the field. Likewise, two or more antimagic fields don’t cancel each other.

Effect: You create a magical restraint to bind a creature you can see within range. The target makes a Charisma saving throw. If it succeeds on the saving throw, the creature is immune to further attempts by you to imprison it with this spell. Otherwise, the creature is placed in a state of suspended animation for the duration, and doesn’t need to eat or breathe. It ceases to age and is unaffected by the passage of time. Divination spells can’t discern the target.

When you cast the spell, choose one of the following forms of imprisonment:
Burial. The target is entombed deep beneath the earth in a sphere of magical force that is large enough to contain the target. Nothing can pass through the sphere, nor can a creature use teleportation or planar travel to access the sphere.
Chains. Heavy chains, rooted to the ground, hold the target in place. The target is restrained for the duration, and it can’t move or be moved by any means.
Demiplane. The spell confines the target within a tiny demiplane which is warded against planar travel. The demiplane can be a labyrinth, a cage, a tower, or any similar confined structure or area of your choosing.
Gemstone. The target shrinks to diminutive size and is imprisoned within a transparent gemstone or similar object. Light can pass through the gemstone normally, but nothing else can pass through, even by means of teleportation or planar travel. The gemstone can’t be broken or cut for the duration of the spell.
Slumber. The target falls asleep and can’t be awoken.

When you cast the spell, you can specify a condition that will trigger the spell to end and release the target. The condition can be as specific or as elaborate as you choose. The conditions can be based on a creature’s name, identity, or deity but otherwise must be based on observable actions or qualities and not based on intangibles such as level, class, or hit points.

You can create only one of each such prison at a time. If you cast the spell again to create the same prison, the target of the first casting is immediately freed from its imprisonment.